Make the best falafel sandwich recipe with homemade falafel, hummus, and tahini. Stuff everything into a piece of fresh pita bread, add some vegetables and pickles, and enjoy one of the best sandwiches ever!
After sharing our favorite Falafel recipe last week, you might have seen this one coming. An easy-to-pull-together, scrumptious Lebanese-style falafel sandwich, a healthy, vegan recipe (if desired), perfect for any day of the week. And if you like the food of the Middle East as much as we do, try this Easy Lebanese Lentil Soup.
Ingredients: 14
Preparation time: 10 minutes
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What is a falafel sandwich?
One of the most popular Middle Eastern foods served in many Middle Eastern or Mediterranean restaurants and takeaways. It consists of a pita pocket or flatbread stuffed with falafel, hummus, tahini sauce, and chopped vegetables.
Recipe ingredients
Falafel
I recommend my homemade falafel recipe. Just keep in mind that the chickpeas need to be soaked for 24 hours before you can make the chickpea mixture, form, and fry the small balls.
Shortcut: Use your favorite brand of falafel for this sandwich. You can buy good falafels in a takeaway, frozen or refrigerated ones at the grocery store, or you can use a falafel mixture. In this case, you will have to mix that with water, form small patties, and fry, air fry, or bake them.
Ingredients for homemade falafel patties: dry chickpeas, gram flour, onions, garlic, parsley, cilantro, baking soda, cumin, coriander, chili flakes, salt, pepper, sesame seeds, and oil for deep frying (air frying or baking are also fine). If following our recipe, you will have 20 small patties.
Hummus
Making hummus in a good food processor takes about 5 minutes, so I recommend making it yourself. Use our recipe for Hummus without Garlic; it’s fantastic! Add some garlic to it if you like. You already have some garlic in the balls and the tahini sauce, so it won’t matter if you have more. You could also make this delicious Creamy Butter Bean Hummus.
Shortcut: use a tub of bought hummus, but I must say, I would never do it…
Hummus ingredients include canned chickpeas, cumin, coriander, sweet, hot, smoked paprika, tahini, lemon juice, salt, and olive oil. This amount of hummus will make enough for at least 10 falafel sandwiches, but I am sure you will find other ways to enjoy the leftovers.
Tahini sauce
It’s the best one ever; I am addicted to it; I could put it on top of everything. To make it, you will need creamy tahini, lemon juice, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl, adding enough water to loosen the sauce and thin it lightly.
If you have an open jar of tahini, why not try this Creamy Tahini Pasta recipe?
Bread: Good-quality pita pockets or flatbread from a Middle Eastern shop; they have the best bread for this purpose. You can make your own pita bread, it’s really easy, but we don’t have a recipe on the blog yet.
Vegetables: Red onion, fresh tomato, cucumber, fresh parsley, basil, mint, or cilantro. And some pickles, I often make the sandwich with pickled beet slices, but you can use your favorite kind of sweet-sour pickled vegetables.
Cheese: The feta cheese is totally optional. If you like to keep the sandwich vegan, forget the cheese; the recipe will taste just as delicious without it. Don’t use already crumbled feta.
Variations
- Change the recipe to your liking.
- Add your favorite veggies, for instance, peppers, olives, grated carrots, and so on. Add some crunchy salad leaves like iceberg lettuce or some chopped rocket.
- I also love to add roasted red peppers, eggplants, or zucchini (homemade or from a jar).
- Add a little tabouleh or baba ganoush to the pockets.
Other sauces:
- Serve with yogurt sauce instead of tahini sauce. Mix a few heaped tablespoons of Greek yogurt with 1-2 grated garlic cloves, ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice (to taste), salt, and pepper.
- Serve with tzatziki instead of tahini sauce. Or with just a little sour cream.
- Drizzle the contents of the bread pocket with Sriracha or another hot sauce
How to build a pita sandwich?
Bread:
- You can warm it up in a large nonstick skillet, in the oven, or a toaster, or you can leave it as it is.
- Depending on its size, you can make a sandwich using a whole small one or a large pita half. The pitas I make or buy are always relatively small, so I use them whole.
- If using whole, cut a little bit of it so that you can open it up.
Sauces:
- Spread some hummus generously into the opened bread. Add some tahini sauce.
Vegetables:
- Thinly slice the red onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers. If the beet pickles are not already cut, slice them as well. Fill the pita sandwiches with veggies and some fresh herbs, but leave some room for the chickpea balls.
Falafel:
- Stuff some falafel balls into the sandwich. If they are too large/round, cut them in half horizontally, they will fit better inside the bread.
- Add a little crumbled feta cheese if you like.
- Drizzle with some more tahini sauce, and enjoy immediately. You can add more tahini sauce gradually while eating your pita falafel sandwich.
Tips
Wrap the sandwich in foil when serving; it can get messy and the foil will help you keep it all together.
Recipe FAQs
You can make the falafel, hummus, and tahini sauce well in advance; they all keep for several days in the fridge. But only build the pita sandwich shortly before eating.
You could make a sandwich for work or school; it will be fine for a few hours. Don’t leave it for too long, though, or the veggies and sauce might make it soggy. Wrap in well in foil for easy transport.
You can freeze the falafel, hummus, and pita bread - all in separate airtight containers. Defrost in the fridge.
You can reheat the balls and the bread before serving.
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📖 Recipe
Easy Falafel Sandwich (with Pita and Tahini Sauce)
Ingredients
Tahini sauce (enough for 4 sandwiches):
- 3 tablespoons tahini
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
- fine sea salt to taste
Falafel sandwich:
- 1 pita bread pocket or 1 flatbread Note 1
- 2 tablespoons hummus
- 2-3 tablespoons tahini sauce
- ¼- ½ small red onion
- 1 small tomato
- 3-4 slices cucumber
- 2 slices pickled beet Note 2
- 2-3 falafel per sandwich depending on their size
- 1 tablespoon feta crumbled, (Note 3)
- a few sprigs of fresh parsley mint, basil, or cilantro
Instructions
Falafel:
- If making homemade falafel, remember to soak the chickpeas for 24 hours.
Hummus:
- Make homemade hummus.
Tahini sauce:
- Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. The tahini might seize a little once you add the lemon juice. Keep whisking and about 1 tablespoon of cold water to thin it slightly and help it relax.
Vegetables:
- Thinly slice the red onion. Slice the tomato, cucumber, and pickled beet.
Bread:
- Warm the pita pockets if you wish. You can do that in a pan, oven, or toaster.
Sandwich:
- If using a whole small pita pocket, cut a little bit of it so that you can open it up.
- Spread hummus generously into the opened bread. Add some tahini sauce. Fill the pita sandwiches with the veggies and some fresh herbs but leave some room for the chickpea balls.
- Stuff some falafel into the sandwich. If they are too large/round, cut them in half, they will fit better inside the bread.
- Add a little crumbled feta cheese if you like.
- Drizzle with some more tahini sauce. You can add more tahini sauce gradually while eating.
- Wrap the sandwich in foil for less messy eating.
Notes
- Or other pickles you like.
- Leave out the cheese for a vegan sandwich.
- Depending on its size, you can make a sandwich using a whole small one or half of a large pita. The pitas I make or buy are always rather small, so I use them whole.
- Other suitable sauces: Greek yogurt sauce, tzatziki, sriracha, or another hot sauce.
- Additions: roasted vegetables like red peppers, eggplant, or zucchini. Fresh bell peppers, salad leaves (rocket), pitted olives. You can also add 1 tablespoon of tabouleh or baba ganoush.
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